Olson, Orioles snap Rays' six-game winning streak

Apr 30, 2008 - 4:48 AM
BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- In his zest to make a case to stay in the
Baltimore Orioles' rotation, Garrett Olson gave his team just
what it needed to stop the surging Tampa Bay Rays.

Olson pitched into the seventh inning in his season debut,
leading the Orioles to a 7-4 victory over the Rays on Tuesday.

Recalled from the minors earlier in the day, Olson (1-0) made a
strong first statement to stay in the rotation with Baltimore
after going 1-1 with a 1.85 ERA with Class AAA Norfolk. The
lefthander is filling the void created by an injury to Adam
Loewen.

"He showed great improvement from the last time I saw him,"
Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "He pitched inside better
and worked faster. He challenged Tampa Bay in the middle of
(its) lineup and was making guys hit the ball. After the way he
pitched tonight, we're going to have to see what we can do to
get him back there again."

Olson overcame five walks, allowing just two runs and four hits
with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings against the Rays, who had
won six straight - their longest streak since a six-game run
from July 28-August 3, 2005.

"I felt like I was in more control; I wasn't getting flustered,"
Olson said. "When you let a pitch get away from you, you've
got to just come back and make adjustments. One thing was, I
wasn't afraid of contact. Get strike one and see what they do
with the one after that and let your defense play behind you."

After Melvin Mora and Nick Markakis hit consecutive two-out,
run-scoring singles to put the Orioles on the board in the
second, Ramon Hernandez knocked ineffective starter Jason Hammel
(2-2) out of the game with a two-out RBI double in the third,
giving Baltimore a 3-0 advantage.

Hammel was ineffective from the very start, surrendering three
runs and six hits with four walks in only 2 2/3 innings,
throwing just 28 of his 61 pitches for strikes.

The Orioles increased their lead with four more runs in the
sixth, highlighted by Aubrey Huff's second homer in as many days
- a two-run shot that opened a 7-0 cushion.

Mora had a sacrifice fly and Kevin Millar added a run-scoring
single to open the floodgates.

"We got some big hits from the middle of our lineup," Trembley
said. "The two-out hits to break open the game - especially
from Millar - were big. Mora also had a good game."

For Huff, this game merely continued his long history of success
against the team with which he played the first 6 1/2 years of
his career. With Tuesday's 1-for-3 performance, he is batting
.326 with nine home runs and 20 RBI in just 86 at-bats against
Tampa Bay.

The Rays mounted a strong comeback attempt with two outs in the
top of the seventh. After Akinori Iwamura's RBI double signaled
the end of the game for Olson, reliever Randor Bierd promptly
served up a run-scoring single by Carl Crawford.

B.J. Upton then hit a 3-2 fastball over the wall in right-center
field for his third homer of the season, trimming the deficit
to 7-4.

However, Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker kept Tampa Bay scoreless
in the eighth before handing it over to closer George Sherrill,
who worked around a walk in the ninth for his 10th save in 11
chances.

"Today was Baltimore's day, but tomorrow is a new day," Iwamura
said. "It's important that we come out and play well tomorrow -
especially after losing a win streak - to make a new start."